Turning of the screw

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Comcast’s planned $45.2 billion (with a “b”) offer to buy fellow media giant Time-Warner would merge two of the most-reviled companies in America into an Internet and television behemoth that controls the electronic media markets in 19 of the nation’s 20 biggest cities. As is often the case, what’s good for Wall Street (Time-Warner’s stock soared on news of Comcast’s plan) would more than likely be awful for consumers fed up with skyrocketing cable rates, channel bundling packages (a’la carte, please!) and at-times slow Internet access. Given the recent court decision striking down the FCC’s “‘net neutrality” doctrine, a merged Comcast/Time-Warner giant also would have a freer hand to enforce tiered internet service for users who stream content.
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